Books
about Paris
Richard
of Philadelphia points out that since there are so many books about
Paris, I
should have an entire page devoted to them alone. So, let's get
started. Send me
your titles, along with a sentence or two about them. I'll put them up
here as
they come in, along with a list of my own favorites.
And to kick things off, Richard suggests Julia Child's My Life in France. Richard writes: "You thought that you knew Julia, but you don't. Follow her from her first French meal to, well, you know: her becoming JULIA CHILD! A really fascinating account of her postwar life in Paris, her marriage, family and being the big American woman who gets more serious about French cooking than anybody else from the U.S. Detailed descriptions of all things food in Paris as well as a gossipy second half."
Sam says we all should be reading
Andrew Ayers' The
Architecture of Paris.
Sam writes: "The author is a Brit who lives in Paris, the book was
published in Germany but was not promoted at all by the publisher; it's
a bit pricey ($26) but excellent both for tourists and also for art
historians interested in that City's structures." Tom says that you
should always listen to what Sam says.
J. Thompson suggests Gordon Cope's A Paris Moment: "In Paris, when you walk out the door . . . the day springs to life as a full-blown performance, and if you are not part of the audience, you are part of the cast." With a wonderful turn of phrase and a wicked sense of humour, Cope provides an intimate account of everyday life in a magical city, most often as "part of the cast." Sometimes your wildest dreams really do come true. No-one knows this better than author Gordon Cope whose life took a very exciting turn when his wife, Linda, was offered a one-year posting to the world's dream destination - Paris, the City of Lights.
Another
favorite is Sarah Turnbull's Almost
French: An irresistible travel memoir set in the world's
most enigmatic and seductive city, Almost
French
is the new book by Australian writer Sarah Turnbull. 'This isn't like
me. I'm not the sort of girl who crosses continents to meet up with a
man she hardly knows. Paris hadn't even been part of my travel plan...'
One night in Bucharest, a chance meeting with a charming Frenchman
changes journalist Sarah Turnbull's travel plans forever. Acting on
impulse, she agrees to visit Frederic for a week in Paris, a city Sarah
thinks she knows well. That is, until she falls in love. Put a very
French Frenchman together with a strong-willed Australian woman and the
result is some spectacular and often hilarious cultural clashes.
Sarah's clothes, her laugh, her conversation--even how much she
drinks--set her apart. Language is a minefield of misunderstanding and
the simple act of buying a baguette at the local boulangerie is fraught
with social danger. But as she navigates the highs and lows of this
strange new world, from life in a bustling inner city quartier and
surviving Parisian dinner parties to covering the haute couture fashion
shows and discovering the hard way the paradoxes of France today,
little by little Sarah falls under its spell: maddening, mysterious and
charged with that French specialty--seduction. Funny, perceptive and
poignant, this is a charming story of an adventurous heart from a
delightful Australian writer who finds herself becoming almost French.
Suggest your favorite book(s) about Paris...
Book Title
Author
Waiting for your suggestions...